English 中文
go to FORTUNE.com

Powered by Chinadaily.com.cn

 
home Contact us go to FORTUNE.com
News
Special Report
People
Webcast
Photos
China Economy
Conference
· Intro & Theme
· Schedule
· Speakers
· Venues
·Sports Roundtable
·Cultural Roundtable
·Participants
 
  People
Sam Palmisano: IT industry's heavyweight champ
[ 2005-04-18 10:16:42]

Behind the neatly combed hair, round-rimmed glasses and the still-boyish face lies a fighter. Not that you'd notice it in the handful of public appearances he's made over the past year, but behind closed doors, that competitive spirit has earned IBM Chairman and CEO Sam Palmisano the title of the IT industry's heavyweight champ.

Take one morning about four months ago when Palmisano stepped into an IBM conference room, faced the company's top 300 managers, threw off the gloves and came down hard. IBM's e-business on-demand srategy, Palmisano's brainchild and IBM's cornerstone initiative in which hardware and software run at optimization through self-monitoring and automation,had stalled. Few partners and, even worse, few customers really knew what it meant outside of a marketing assault that did little but create mystery. Every executive in the room, he mandated in an increasingly loud voice, was now responsible for driving e-business on demand into two customer accounts within several months.

"He got really irate about it," recalls Jocelyne Attal, the former vice president of IBM's on-demand operating environment, who left the company on good terms in September for a position at Gateway. "He was jumping all over."

While Palmisano was jumping, the managers must have been listening %85 very closely. Shortly after that a funny thing began to happen in the channel. IBM's solution provider partners say they were inundated with e-mails, marketing campaigns and Webinars that brought clarity to a previously murky message. The company set ordering processes and pricing structures around e-business on-demand integrated products. And IBM finally began shipping the software, such as Tivoli integrated with WebSphere, to provide intelligence to the system and tie the whole strategy together.

"That speaks well to Palmisano's commitment to push through an initiative he feels is critically important to partners and IBM overall," says Leif Morin, president of Key Information Systems, a solution provider in Woodland Hills, Calif. "I understand what he's talking about. I couldn't say that 12 months ago."

Dave Traxler, president and CEO of Venture SystemSource, a $60 million IBM solution provider partner in Ridgeland, Miss., also credits Palmisano's push with moving the plan forward.

"During the course of the year we were wondering where the beef was; we really couldn't get into it," Traxler says. "But now that they put some software around it, I really think we're going to make hay with the on-demand strategy. Every marketing campaign we run tries to play into that strategy."

While Palmisano's predecessor, Lou Gerstner,with his penchant for stretch limos, finely tailored suits, bodyguards and do-or-die attitude toward employee performance,seemed cold and aloof, Palmisano is not afraid to doff his jacket and roll up his sleeves. He willingly jumps into the trenches to articulate IBM's and its customers' needs, exposes his passion to a broad range of employees and inspires them to execute.

"He can scream and jump. It's in his body, in his voice and in his brain," Attal says. "I've never seen anyone at his level, in such a large company, with his passion. The guy has the passion of someone driving his own entrepreneurship."

IBM is as much Palmisano's as anyone's. At 52, he has spent more than half his life and his entire career not just working at IBM, but turning around numerous divisions, including the server enterprise and data-storage business. He helped build Global Services into IBM's most profitable unit. For all of Gerstner's brilliance in turning around a dying company, hiring Palmisano as his successor was his masterstroke. During a relentlessly sluggish economy, Palmisano has pushed the company to continue creating innovative products, maintain sales, focus on a wide range of solution providers and lead more than 300,000 employees into the next chapter of IBM's storied history.

"He has taken Gerstner's strategy to the next level," says Harvey Najim, president and CEO of Sirius Computer Solutions, one of IBM's largest midrange partners. "You had a guy in Lou who could pitch a no-hitter and you have a guy like Sam who can hit 78 home runs. You really can't say one is better than the other. I loved Lou, but you don't hear anyone saying, 'I wish Lou was back' or 'Who is Sam?' "

After nearly two years on the job, no one is asking who Sam Palmisano is or questioning his ability. Despite the demands he faces, including the monumental task of tying IBM's varied product line into e-business on demand, Palmisano has not lost the traits that have helped him scale the ranks. Those who work with him say he continues to check sales reports weekly, maintains his sense of humor, descends the ranks to work with employees who need a boost reaching goals, and steps in to convince customers that IBM is their best vendor and partner. He rarely asks anybody to do anything he hasn't already done.

"When I need him to make a CEO call on a customer, he says 'Sure,' " says Mike Borman, general manager of IBM's Global Business Partners, stopping abruptly after the last word to emphasize Palmisano's trust in his employees' decisions. And that trust, Borman says, scales down to the channel. "He views IBM's sales team and the solution provider partners as part of the same team. He wants solution providers to deliver as well as the IBM sales team."

   上一頁 1 2 下一頁  

 
 
All rights reserved. Powered by Chinadaily.com.cn
 
主站蜘蛛池模板: 伊人久久大香线蕉无码| 国产精品一区二区香蕉| 久久91综合国产91久久精品| 欧美又大粗又爽又黄大片视频| 免费一级欧美片在线观免看| 色狠台湾色综合网站| 国产福利久久青青草原下载| 97久久国产亚洲精品超碰热| 好硬好大好爽18漫画| 中文字幕无码不卡免费视频| 日韩在线不卡免费视频一区| 亚洲人成图片小说网站| 欧美黑人巨大videos精品| 免费网站看v片在线成人国产系列| 草久视频在线观看| 国产成人99久久亚洲综合精品| 香焦视频在线观看黄| 国产黄网在线观看| XX性欧美肥妇精品久久久久久| 工囗番漫画全彩无遮拦老师| 中文字幕日韩wm二在线看| 日本欧美特黄特色大片| 亚洲Av人人澡人人爽人人夜夜 | 国产露出调教91| eeuss影院www在线观看免费| 小说区乱图片区| 三级网站在线播放| 成年人网站黄色| 中文字幕视频在线免费观看| 日本免费人成视频播放| 久久激情综合网| 日韩在线一区二区三区免费视频| 亚洲2022国产成人精品无码区 | 太粗太深了用力点视频| 一本伊大人香蕉高清在线观看| 成人777777| 一级毛片成人免费看a| 成人亚洲网站www在线观看| 中文字幕一区二区三区日韩精品| 挺进男同的屁股眼o漫画| 中日韩精品视频在线观看|